The inability of our existing border fence to stop drug smugglers, human traffickers, and other dangerous characters at our border was brought into frightening clarity by footage a border surveillance group says they captured over the past two years.

According to the Los Angeles Times, illegal border crossers have created a dangerous situation for fifth-generation rancher Jim Chilton and his wife at their 50,000-acre Arizona property along the U.S.-Mexico border.

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What used to be an occasional traveler in need of food and water showing up at their doorstep has turned into a steady stream of illegal aliens, some of them armed and carrying drugs.

"The problem is the druggers out there have AK-47s," Jim said after showing a reporter all the trash strewn across his property from border crossers. "You have no idea who is watching us now.”

“I try to avoid them in any way possible,” he told BBC in an interview earlier this year. “I’m never without a weapon because I fear for my life. If I try to take them out, my theory is that I go out shooting back.”

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The Chiltons, who often have to repair their broken-through fences to keep their cattle from escaping into Mexico, are deeply concerned about the human toll as people cross their land during cold nights or blazing hot days. They’re also concerned about their own safety.

"It's almost as though we have ceded a swath of this United States of America.... It has been ceded to operational control of the cartels," Chilton’s wife Sue observed while talking to the LA Times.

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While they support guest worker programs and Obama’s DACA, the Chiltons believe there’s a much more immediate way to prevent their property from becoming a highway for illegal activity.

"The border should be secured at the border," Jim said, noting that he’s waiting for an effective barrier to go up along the several miles where his property touches the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I’ve been advocating the need for a wall for 10 years,” he told BBC. “And when he [Trump] came out and said he wanted a wall, I was thrilled.”

A paramilitary surveillance group, Arizona Border Recon, backs up Jim’s report of seeing heavily armed illegal aliens crossing through his land. They have released footage, published by the Daily Caller, or what they say are armed illegal border crossers taking a break on the Chilton’s property.

The high-resolution footage taken by Arizona Border Recon shows what they say are illegal aliens carrying a shotgun and an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. The men’s gear includes body armor, a radio, and horses — one with a large gun strapped to it.

Lower resolution footage shot by hidden cameras that Jim setup shows lines of men in camouflage marching through his property with very large packs on their back. No weapons appear to be visible in that particular footage.